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Reviews

Gohst

In “Pipe Dream” or “Pipe Mania” knock-off’s, it is difficult to find one which has the same feel as the original - This one feels and plays really well.

The story is: there is a pipe which will start spewing oil at any moment (in this version, water) and what you need to do is build a pipe to the drain so none of it is wasted! Plumbing has never been so fun. The thing is, you can’t just draw a line to the drain, you need to connect pipes together in order for the water to flow.

The array of random pieces you are given feels exactly that – random. It’s rare or infrequent that you’ll get too many of the same piece in a row, however it is frequent you just won’t know what to do with all the pieces. Thrown in are your usual pipe types, straight and corners of all four directions. Infrequently you will get a cross piece which can be used to double over your track.

Points are awarded on the length of your pipe, so while you don’t get bonus points for using a cross piece, you do get more points for travelling a further distance. After the first level, the free-form pipe building is gone and you have to work the pipe through an additional section. In the next level, there are two simultaneous pipes with their own end drains. Then you have to manage two pipes into two different exits while routing them through their own, required through pipes. Fortunately you can place a new section of pipe over any “misplaced” pipes which don’t already have water in them.

Graphically pared down from the PC version I remember, the game play is completely in-tact which makes me say that this is one of the better free versions of Pipe Dream that I have ever seen.